Krasnopresnensky baths are a favorite place of Russian authorities. For some, they became the place of death: recently, an authority named Ded Hassan (Aslan Usoyan) was killed here. But one of the first folded Otari Kvantrishvili. The shots that rang out in April 1994, caused the premature death of the criminal baron. The biography of this man is shrouded in a veil of secrecy, he founded the Lev Yashin Foundation, a party of Russian athletes.
Otari was a Honored Master of Sports of the Russian Federation. And he had a dark side, a criminal one, which was not advertised, unlike the bright side. The famous killer of the 90s, Lesha Soldier, who worked for Sylvester, the head of the Medvedkovskaya organized crime group, Sergei Timofeev, took over the assassination of authority.
Country Life in the 90s
The beginning of a new era, the transition from socialism to capitalism led to the emergence of many criminal organizations. Everyone shared everything and did not reckon with either moral principles or laws. Corruption is everywhere: in the police, the prosecutor's office, the courts, the government, even in the immediate environment of B.N. Yeltsin. A series of killings of State Duma deputies, which were directly or indirectly associated with criminal organizations, was commonplace.
But there were people who controlled all this “outrage”, as it may seem from the outside. After the murder of Otari Vitalievich Kvantrishvili, it became clear to the entire world public that he was the organizer and leader of the Russian mafia. Later, the world press sent the same words to other authorities of the criminal world. But by the mid-90s, this was the first high-profile murder that could not be solved for almost ten years.
Youth Otari
My father is a train driver on a railroad; he worked his entire conscious life in a Moscow depot. Otari Vitalievich Kvantrishvili received his first criminal record in 1966, when he was only 18. Article 117 for rape, one cannot call it “thieves”. The barons of the underworld usually did not include people convicted under such an article.
But of the seven years of imprisonment Otari served a little more than four. He was diagnosed with sluggish schizophrenia. As a result, he was transferred from the camp in which he was serving his sentence to the psychiatric hospital in Lublin. During the years of perestroika, Otari manifests an entrepreneurial spirit: he organizes his own business, a small business. A little later, one of his main offspring appeared - the association "XXI Century". And by 1990, he had many shares in Moscow bars, restaurants, discos, and casinos.
Role in the underworld
Otari Kvantrishvili’s biography is full of “adventures”. He participated in the political life of the country, and in the cultural, and led a behind-the-scenes struggle for power in criminal communities. Otari was one of the leaders of the Caucasian group, which also included his close friends - Valerial "Peso" Kuchuloriya, Pipia Tomaz, Givi "Rezany" Beradze. Pipia was killed, the rest were missing, and the circumstances are very mysterious.
Throughout the 90s, an open struggle was waged between Slavic groups and the Caucasus. The former believed that all power, including criminal power, should belong only to natives of these lands. Neglect of the Georgian thieves was undisguised - everyone knew that for a certain amount some authorities crowned people who had never been seated. Slavic thieves believed that this was unacceptable.
Power sharing
But disagreements arose in other issues, as a rule, financial ones. All outlets and business were divided, but to someone it seemed a little. Therefore, certain groups gained power and supplanted the weaker - a kind of natural selection. There is also a version that the Georgian government, which was in power in the early 90s, struggled to put “its” people in Moscow.
Some thieves took the side of Georgia, others resisted. Conversations in those years ended with bloodshed, so authorities were eliminated physically. It was easier to kill than to negotiate and come to a compromise. It is possible that the Slavic groups were only a tool in the hands of the Georgian authorities to eliminate objectionable. And the murder of Otari Kvantrishvili happened precisely because he did not meet the authorities, and not because of far-fetched contradictions between the groups.
Association "XXI Century"
The first brainchild of Otari Kvantrishvili is the XXI Century Association. This organization was founded together with Anzor Iosifovich Kikashvili. This is a graduate of the Moscow Institute of Physical Education for a long time was the organizer of sports and defense events in various pioneer camps. Subsequently, he headed the department in the Gagarin District Committee of Moscow. Being in the Komsomol organization, participated in the preparations for the 1980 Summer Olympics.
In the 80s, he studied at the Diplomatic Academy under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. Subsequently, he was the head of the graduate school of this academy, and by 1989 he became president of the XXI Century Association. It was in this organization that he was vice president of Otari Kvantrishvili.
"The lair of the beast"
Otari had a lot of property, but one of his favorite places was a dacha in Barvikha. The house previously belonged to Savitsky - the marshal of the Soviet Union. And by the mid-90s, the name "Lair of the Beast" was firmly entrenched in her. That is what many print media of the time called Kvantrishvili's favorite place. But in fact, this cottage did not shine with luxury, rather, on the contrary.
Modest housing, no frills and pomp. Old furniture, made of luxury - a VCR, though not very new. Kvantrishvili himself drove an old Zhigulenka, which was constantly breaking down. He believed that spending money on a new expensive car, especially an imported one, was an impermissible luxury. Two dogs guarded the cottage - a huge Caucasian and a mastiff (presented by friends, a very expensive dog).
Where did the wealth come from?
Brother Otari Kvantrishvili was fond of running in his youth. Otari himself also quickly became involved in this type of activity. They tried to make bets exclusively on clandestine sweepstakes - this is much cooler than paying money to the box office of the hippodrome. Amiran and Otari very quickly began other activities - they ensured the safety of Katal (card players). The games were held at the Sovetskaya Hotel, on Sadovo-Kudrinskaya. Venues of underground card games were often apartments of eminent Soviet athletes.
After serving his time, Otari joined the organized crime group organized by the Mongol (Gennady Kharkov). He was the leader of the criminal community of Moscow in those years, his right hand was the world famous Vyacheslav Ivankov, nicknamed Yaponchik. When Ivankov was imprisoned in 1982, Otari almost went after him: in the materials of the criminal case there were documents that confirmed Kvantrishvili’s involvement in some crimes. Otari took all care of the Ivankov family.
Connection with Yeltsin B.N.
The former president of the Russian Federation, Yeltsin, loved Otari very much, he often shone with him in front of the cameras, rendered assistance in every possible way. It was by his order that the National Sports Center was created. The President signed documents that gave this center crazy benefits, completely exempted him from paying customs duties. Any business can only dream of such conditions.
The gang Otari Kvantrishvili was able to launder a lot of money - about 2 trillion 400 billion rubles were spent by the state to create this center. True, everyone was sure that the state was the founder of this center. In fact, Otari Kvantrishvili himself initiated the creation. In October 1993, he spoke on the side of Yeltsin, which probably earned such a sincere love of the president.
Death of brothers
In early August 1993, the assassination of Amiran takes place. The Chechen group committed a bold execution of the leader of Kazan, Fedi Beshenoy and Amiran Kvantrishvili. Together with them, several more ordinary members of the group died. According to one version, the dispute opened over the hotel, which is located near the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Chechens and Kvantrishvili brothers laid eyes on her. And the dispute was resolved very simply - the most stubborn were removed from the path.
And on April 5, 1994, three shots were fired near the bathhouses on Krasnaya Presnya. Pal is one of the leaders of the criminal world of the capital. The family of Otari Kvantrishvili - his wife and four children were left without a father. According to one version, he was the victim of a showdown between the Slavic and Chechen organized crime groups. He was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery. Subsequently, the killer Lesha the Soldier took the blame, it was fully proved by the investigation.